 and the police, following what he describes as an unlawful raid on his Abuja home){kind=link}
Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has launched a staggering N1 billion legal battle against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the police, following what he describes as an unlawful raid on his Abuja home.
In a suit filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, the former governor is calling on the judiciary to step in and declare that the search warrant used to gain entry into his private residence was fundamentally flawed and invalid.
El-Rufai did not hold back in his legal filing, labeling the warrant as “null and void for lack of particularity, material drafting errors, ambiguity in execution parameters, overbreadth, and absence of probable cause.”
The lawsuit details how a team of officers from the ICPC and the Nigeria Police arrived at his home on No. 12 Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, around 2 p.m. on February 19 to carry out the search.
The former governor argues that the entire operation was a direct assault on his constitutional rights, specifically his right to dignity, personal liberty, a fair hearing, and his basic right to privacy.
He is now asking the court to ensure that any evidence gathered during the raid is tossed out, arguing that it cannot be used in any future investigation or trial because it was obtained through illegal means.
Furthermore, El-Rufai is seeking a court order to force the ICPC and the Inspector-General of Police to return every item seized from his home immediately, accompanied by a full and transparent inventory.
At the heart of the suit is a demand for N1 billion in total damages to compensate for the fallout of the afternoon raid.
The breakdown of the claim is specific: “N300 million for psychological trauma, emotional distress, and loss of personal security”; “N400 million as exemplary damages to deter future misconduct by law enforcement agencies”; and “N300 million as aggravated damages” for what he described as the “malicious, high-handed and oppressive nature of the operation.”
Beyond the damages for distress and deterrence, El-Rufai is also asking for an additional N100 million to settle his mounting legal fees.
His legal team argued that the warrant was a mess of errors, failing to specify what was being looked for and containing glaring mistakes regarding the address, date, and district. They maintain that these failures make the entire search an illegal act.
The lawyer emphasized a key legal principle in the filing, stating that “evidence obtained without a valid warrant is unlawful and inadmissible.”
Supporting the claim, a senior aide to El-Rufai provided an affidavit stating that officers acted without proper authority, carting away personal documents and electronics while causing the former governor significant humiliation and distress.
As it stands, the Federal High Court has yet to schedule a date to begin hearing the arguments in this high-stakes case.